How to Manage After-Sales on Amazon?

After-sales on Amazon typically leads to the direct user experience, which also affects the performance and security of the seller's account. One negative customer experience is a sure way to lose ten customers! Happy customers buy more. Retaining loyal customers leads to repeat purchases and keeping your customer satisfaction high is great for getting referrals. So, how to manage after-sales on Amazon?

Order related

1. A buyer has asked me to ship an order to a different address. What should I do?

If you have not yet shipped the order and the buyer says they cannot receive the order at the address they provided originally, you should cancel the order. The buyer can then return to Amazon to place a new order using the correct address. Amazon's policy requires sellers to ship only to the address provided in their seller account.

If you have already shipped the order to the address provided with the order, the way you choose to handle the situation is ultimately up to you. Here are a few solutions you might want to consider.

• Contact the shipping provider to see if you can retrieve the package. They might be able to stop the shipment in transit and return it to you.

• Attempt to contact the current resident at the shipping address where you sent the package or ask the buyer to do so. The current resident may be willing to refuse delivery or forward the package to the buyer.

• If the item is not returned to you or forwarded to the buyer, then the decision to issue a refund is up to you. You have the option of providing a partial refund minus your shipping costs.

For future orders, consider using package tracking or purchasing insurance from your shipping carrier if you are concerned about absorbing the cost of a lost shipment.

2. A buyer wants to cancel an order. What should I do?

Both cancellations and returns are a normal part of most sales operations.

Your options will depend on the order status.

You have not yet shipped and confirmed the shipment.

You can cancel the order in Manage Orders or using Order Cancellation feeds. When you cancel an order, Amazon automatically updates the order status in the buyer's Amazon account and sends an e-mail notification to the buyer.

You have shipped the order.

You can let the buyer know that the order is already on its way and ask the buyer to return it to you for a refund. When you receive the return, issue a refund if you had confirmed the shipment, or simply cancel the order if you had not yet confirmed the shipment.

Returns, refunds related

What should I do if a buyer wants to return an item?

All Amazon sellers are required to accept returns. The following topics will help you manage returns:

• After you authorize a return request, we strongly advise that you wait until you receive the item back from the buyer before you issue a refund. If you allow the buyer to keep or discard the item, you would issue the refund without waiting for the return.

• If the buyer returns the item to you damaged, or in a condition that is different from the condition in which you sent it, you have the option to issue a partial refund. If you decide to issue a partial refund, we recommend explaining this to the buyer in advance to help avoid misunderstanding or a possible A-to-z Guarantee claim.

• For most items, the return request must be submitted within 30 days after the order is delivered.

• If you described and listed the item accurately, but the buyer simply no longer wants it or made an ordering mistake (for example, selected the wrong size or color), you may refund the item price but not refund the shipping costs.

Negative reviews related

What should I do if a buyer leaves negative reviews?

Bad Amazon reviews are always a nuisance. 1-star ratings, in particular, can drag down a product’s average rating unless it already has a solid collection of decent reviews.

Bad reviews can, therefore, lead directly to a steep drop in sales. As a seller, you naturally want to avoid this and wonder: What should I do about unfavorable reviews? Can I even do anything?

• You can reply to a customer review publicly — it may help to reduce any damage to the reputation of the product (and of the seller or vendor). 

• If commenting on a bad review doesn’t work, you can try to have the review deleted by Amazon. Removal is the most favorable solution for sellers and vendors, but be aware that Amazon usually sides with shoppers and will only remove a review if it violates Amazon’s community guidelines. 

• In the end, the only real way to minimize the risk of a negative review is to provide excellent customer service and clear and concise product descriptions.

During Amazon operation, it is common for customers to cancel orders, return goods, and leave bad reviews and other after-sales problems. Amazon always puts customer experience first, so sellers need to do a good job in operation links from product selection to logistics delivery and timely customer feedback. Providing customers with a good shopping experience is the key.